High Spanish praise for Messi

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Barcelona - Spain bathed in glory on Tuesday after Barcelona star Lionel Messi won the Ballon d'Or for best footballer of the year for a record fourth time, cementing his claim to be one of the greatest players of all time.

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque also snatched top honours, in recognition of their Euro 2012 triumph, which followed its 2010 Soccer World Cup win and Euro 2008 crown, to top a virtual clean sweep for Spanish and La Liga players at the prestigious awards.

But it was the smiling 25-year-old Argentine international who stole the show, with pictures of him picking up the FIFA prize in Zurich dressed in an eyebrow-raising black and white-spotted suit and bow tie, splashed across front pages.

On his return to Barcelona airport, Messi told reporters that he had forgotten many people in his speech but had wanted to mention Barca coach Tito Vilanova, who is being treated for a cancer of the salivary gland, and defender Eric Abidal.

The French defender is training with the squad again after a liver transplant.

"When things calmed down I remembered Tito and Abidal and everyone, obviously," Messi said, apologising for his omission.

Messi was one of three players in the Spanish league on the shortlist for the world's best footballer award. The two others were his Barca team-mate Andres Iniesta and rival striker Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid.

In addition, all of the top six names in the final ranking that Messi topped were from La Liga teams.

In the FIFPro selection for the best 11-man line-up, meanwhile, six were Spaniards and all but two were from the Spanish league.

That selection included Ronaldo and three other Real players - Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos and Xabi Alonso - plus Iniesta, Messi and two other Barcelona players, Gerard Pique and Xavi Hernandez.

Barcelona president Sandro Rosell said he was "very proud of our players and to be with Barcelona", the club said on its Twitter feed.

The president of the Spanish Royal Football Federation, Angel Villar, said Del Bosque's award was "a new prize for Spanish football that is going through some marvellous years".

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